July 03, 2016

Some people have been asking why remainers like me are still campaigning and getting involved in political debate. So here are my considered reasons.

1. Flawed process. My view before the referendum and my view now is that it was badly thought out. Looking at common practice in many other countries, including Switzerland which seems to know a thing or two about this type of democratic exercise, a threshold (whether size or majority or the four nation lock) is seen as a sensible approach when addressing major constitutional change. This referendum was always likely to be close and as such was always going to result in protest from one side or another.

2. Because the result was so close, the views of Remain need to continue to be heard in efforts to shape the view of what the UK's future relationship with the EU.

3. The need for a general election. This is what I'm most passionate about. Yes there was a vote to Leave the EU, there was NOT a vote on what that would be in practical terms, future relationship with the EU etc. There could well be 17m views of what that is. The negotiating and decision-making power for this rests with parliament. For these reasons we need a general election so that negotiating positions can be put to the public and democratically debated. I may well not like the outcome of this but people would hopefully know what the choices are and the government would have a clear view of the outcome wanted.

4. The need for political change. It is clear that our current political parties are disconnected with the electorate. Long term I'd like proportional representation to be revisited but right now the time seems ripe for new political parties/movements to emerge or progressive coalitions to emerge. The old Conservative/Labour binary appraoch is no longer serving us well (if it ever did). This post is long enough so I'll discuss this in another one.

So I hope you understand that my political activity comes from concern for the future, from a belief in political engagement, and firm principles - not because I'm just being bloody minded

January 28, 2016

The other day a post popped up in my Facebook feed promising to calculate what difference leaving the EU would make to my disposable income.

As someone with an MSc in European politics, the current debate (or lack of actual debate) on the UK remaining in the EU is particularly interesting - and, I think, very important to the future of this country.

Personally, I'm pro-Europe but I strongly believe that the issues are being poorly explained and that most people don't understand the implications of an out vote or indeed what the EU actually does.

So I clicked on the link with interest. The first question was "How many people are there in your household?" and the second was... well there wasn't a second question, entering where I live was option.

And yet this was enough for the "calculator" to tell me that my household would be worse off by several hundred pounds.

That may well be the case but I would take the word of something based on one question. Mine is a two person household but there are lots of different types of a two person household. two adults living in London will have different earning and spending patterns to a mother and baby in Durham or two pensioners in Belfast and they may have different spending patterns to another pair of pensioners three doors down.

The calculator was to me exactly the dumbed-down political scare tactics that make people distrust politics and with no evidence to explain the calculation also something that would do the In campaign more harm than good. A quick scan of the comments showed a large number on the theme of "plucking numbers out of a hat to scare people" - not exactly leading to better informed voters and informed debate then.

Disappointingly this calculator came from the Britain Stronger In Europe Campaign. This supposedly the major In campaign group and one that is making efforts to engage younger voters, but I don't have much hope if this is their approach.

I did contact the group (on the only email address I could find) with my concerns about the calculator but have yet to receive a reply.

If I do manage to open a dialogue (and I did tell them was broadly pro-EU) I may then also ask why it is called "Britain Stronger in Europe" rather than the more inclusive "UK Stronger in Europe" - it is after all the UK that is the member country.

January 24, 2016

To me when an object is described as "woman's" as opposed to "men's" or "unisex" is should have some functional different that means it has been adjusted to fit with the female form or physique in some way.

For example, the T-shirt. I find that if I buy a unisex or men's cut T-shirt that fits my chest, there will be masses of fabric to stuff down my jeans, flappy sleeves that bunch up under jacket or cardigan sleeves and a neckline that drags uncomfortably. End result I don't wear it much. A women's cut T-shirt has none of these problems, so I tend to wear them lots.

Unfortunately, women's is often seen as a synonym for "pink".

I've been noticing the phenomenon for a while but came across an extreme example this week. I am currently doing rehab for my right leg following a knee injury and surgery. In my physio supervised sessions I'm using ankle weights so decided to look into getting my own set and started some online research.

One of the first links to come up referred to "women's adjustable ankle weights" - just the thing, I thought. Clicking the link I got a picture of a woman exercising using pink weights. Now there was me thinking that women's weights might have a smaller circumference or be shaped differently to be comfortable on a smaller leg.

The only difference between the woman-specific product (left) & the men's/general one

appears to be colour

But there ways no information to suggest that. In fact the only differences between the "woman's weights" and any other pair in green, blue, black or yellows were the picture of a woman rather than a man and the colour.

Pinkification is even a problem that comes with the woman's cut t-shirt. My partner and I often check out the T-shirt selections at exhibitions or sites when we are travelling. He ends up buying many more than me because there is often a wide range of designs in the men's/unisex cut. I meanwhile head of to the few racks in the women's cut ghetto in the hope of finding one of the attractive designs reproduced there - instead with regularity I discover instead something pink and sparkly. It even happened at the Rugby World Cup where the full set of team emblems were reproduced on items in black, grey, blue etc for men and only on pink for women - despite using the same templates/transfers. I did buy a black unisex hoodie in small, it can keep my knees very warm.

Please retailers can you think a bit more about function and why women might want women's products - we are not all six year olds wanting to be the tooth fairy.

January 13, 2012

One of the exercises I'm undertaking at the moment to focus my job/freelance work search is to identify what skills I really enjoy using and how I might use those.

Apart from my publishing, online and project skills I happen to be a very able knitter who already occasionally teaches and produces samples for designers. And it seems I have found a way to combine this with my editing experience.

This week I've been on a course to learn the art of technical editing for knitting patterns which is, I have to say, very technical combining an understanding of the craft and of garment construction with attention to detail, an understanding of the target audience and maths - square roots for example are important.

Who knows what proportion of my future employment will come from this but isn't it everyone's goal to have work that comes from something they truly enjoy?

January 03, 2012

Bro's Browsings has been more of an echoing black hole because of work blogs, other personal blogs, twitter and life in general.

Then, in December, I was made redundant as the result of a restructure at work.

This in turn has lead me to rethink my work life balance, to find more time for my creative activities and to decide that for the moment the least I would like a break from being an editor. Well certainly from certain aspects of being an editor, such as being the "face" of an information brand.

On the other hand I want to use my change management skills, my content strategy skills, to find some new challenges to offer creative solutions for and to write in a less constrained way (on some personal projects).

So at the moment life it is about taking a big breath and thinking about what is important to me, what I'm good at and choosing the right new directions.

And so I've revised this blog to chronical some of my thinking and experiences.

And the picture. Well one fixed point for me is being an Olympic volunteer - I've already worked on the fencing test event. And like Locog I'm building for a great 2012.

May 25, 2009

First, the pre-roll ad on the Guardian podcast I'd downloaded was for jobs at Barnet Council in London.

Then looking about I realised something curious, all the ads I could see inside the bus were funded with government money. You could become a foster parent with Islington Council. Camden Council has a service for those seeking British citizenship. Or you could find a public sector job or support into work through direct.gov.uk.

No estate agents, no investment opportunities or ring tone subscriptions.

March 30, 2009

I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Jacqui Smith over the calls for her resignation following the porn movie expense claim fiasco - and not just because of our bizarre lookylikey contection.Quite frankly, she would expect any assistant she employed to complete her expense claim correctly - we can't expect the Home Secretary to micromanage her office as well as the police and judiciary. She would also expect her husband to at least remember he had paid for porn on a particular service, regardless of whether or not she knew he was watching adult movies.But sadly she apprears to employ and be married to someone who, at least in this case, falls into the category of "eejit" - to use the technical Irish term.A call for Smith's resignation is harsh - if every politician with an embarrassing family member was to resign we'd be having a general election next week and a few famous faces such as Mrs T wouldn't have survived.

March 24, 2009

Inspired by Ada Lovelace who wrote the first computer programme the idea has snowballed over recent months and started a debate about women in technology. Ada is an example of what I think many women have brought to high tech developments, the practical application of those developments.

Some years ago I wrote a regular column as part of my job as a journalist on Electronics Times. While colleagues wrote about developments in chip design and so forth, mine was more about where tech might take us, applications I'd like to see - I talked about the potential for mobile apps, e-payments and so on. Often blue skies off the top of my head, but some times they were predictive such as the one asking why all laptops had to be square and grey well before Apple launched its first laptops. But to some my stuff was fluffy - but these days some of it would be regarded as to do with monetization.

The point is that in looking for our tech heroines we must think about the ideas people, the business developers as well as the engineers and the coding ninjas.

Meanwhile I will add a mention for one of my favourites: the glamorous Hedy Lamar who managed to combine Hollywood stardom with research into frequency switching and missile guidance. How many of us could do that.